The Rector's Weekly Message

Dear Friends,

On November 9 we keep Remembrance Sunday. This year, thanks to a generous donation, the Duruflé Requiem at 11am will be accompanied by an orchestra and we will start a new tradition of reading the names of those of our community who have died since Remembrance Sunday the year before. The Book of Remembrance will be placed on the altar during the service, and it contains all the names of our departed loved-ones. You can still send names to be included in the Book of Remembrance to remembrance@saintthomaschurch.org. It is helpful if you can include the date of death if at all possible. Those names will be prayed for at the Saturday lunchtime requiem mass on these Saturdays in November:

 

 

At the 4pm service, there will be the usual act of remembrance for our war dead, and our preacher will be The Reverend Canon Maurice A. Dyer II, Canon to the Bishop, Armed Forces and Federal Ministries. A member of the presiding bishop’s staff, Canon Dyer served most recently as a U.S. Space Force chaplain in Colorado. Canon Dyer works with the Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries. Among his duties are the direct administrative support of more than 100 Episcopal priests who serve as federal chaplains or those candidates seeking endorsement in the armed forces, veterans’ hospitals, and federal prisons. He assists the bishop suffragan in the recruitment, support, and care of these chaplains.

We will be joined, as is customary, by representatives of the Patriotic and Historical Societies of New York who will bring their flags and banners in procession. With an act of remembrance for our war dead, and patriotic hymns, this is a very stirring and poignant service and the service will be followed by a reception at the back of the Lady Chapel.

In the Resurrection Chapel, we have a most beautiful columbarium for the interment of ashes. The carpentry is exquisite and the design most ingenious with doors behind doors behind doors!  Whenever we open the various sets of doors to get to the place where the urns are interred, this passage from the Book of Revelation comes to mind: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20). If you would like to know more about the Columbarium, or would like to reserve a place in it for yourself or a loved-one, please reach out to Bruce Smith, our Chief Advancement Officer: bsmith@saintthomaschurch.org

Last weekend I enjoyed my visit to York and the Company of Merchant Adventurers; the company inhabits the oldest Guild Hall in the United Kingdom that has been in uninterrupted use since 1357.

Each year, the Company holds its traditional Venison Feast around All Saints’ Day. Last year, I was asked to give the after-dinner speech and it is always good to tell people about our beloved Church and its Choir School. The Speaker, this year, was Martin Vander Weyer, the former Governor of the Company who attended the Centennial Celebrations of the twinning of York and New York during our Bicentennial Year. Martin is very witty and writes for The Observer Magazine.

Last Sunday, I preached at Exeter Cathedral; it was lovely to see old friends from the congregation and also the wonderful restoration of the Quire Floor and the new Cloister area. As I was preaching, I looked at the congregation and saw my three grandchildren waving at me! It was a great surprise!

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!

Affectionately,

Your Priest and Pastor,

Carl

The Burning of the Leaves – Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Part 1

Now is the time for the burning of the leaves.
They go to the fire; the nostril pricks with smoke
Wandering slowly into a weeping mist.
Brittle and blotched, ragged and rotten sheaves!
A flame seizes the smouldering ruin and bites
On stubborn stalks that crackle as they resist.

The last hollyhock’s fallen tower is dust;
All the spices of June are a bitter reek,
All the extravagant riches spent and mean.
All burns! The reddest rose is a ghost;
Sparks whirl up, to expire in the mist: the wild
Fingers of fire are making corruption clean.

Now is the time for stripping the spirit bare,
Time for the burning of days ended and done,
Idle solace of things that have gone before:
Rootless hope and fruitless desire are there;
Let them go to the fire, with never a look behind.
The world that was ours is a world that is ours no more.

They will come again, the leaf and the flower, to arise
From squalor of rottenness into the old splendour,
And magical scents to a wondering memory bring;
The same glory, to shine upon different eyes.
Earth cares for her own ruins, naught for ours.
Nothing is certain, only the certain spring.